It may be appreciated that one problem associated with conventional Pellet Firing gun magazine adapters and high pressure air firing adapters (HPA) is that they are limited to specific guns and magazines and require modification of either Gas Blow Back (GBB) magazines or Automatic Electric Gun magazines, in order to provide either larger capacity or an alternative firing propulsion medium.
In the prior art, there are tools to adapt existing gas magazines between gas blowback and high pressure air, and there are adapters to convert between different sizes of gun-specific magazines, as to AEG guns and GBB guns, separately. However, there has not been an adapter system or apparatus to alternatively allow engagement of alternative pellet capacities, magazine sizes and propulsion sources (nor as to magazines from alternative guns) in order to manage or minimize the detriments of alternative firing and limited options and cost with a single weapon, let alone provide an apparatus which is cross-compatible to provide the same advantages to an alternative weapon, with the same or interchangeable components.
Specifically, each of these design alternatives, and their adapters have their own problems, respectively.
Gas blowback guns suffer from performance degradation. Because of the small gas capacity and small capacity for contained pellet volume, discharging the compressed gas cools the chamber and decreases the firing power, especially with continuous firing. Short distance and speed and rate of firing (shots per unit time) all rapidly decrease, and can even jam or stall the flow of pellets.
Partially because of the desirability of realism in GBB guns, and particularly gas blowback replica rifles (GBBRs), gas blowback guns also have limited capacity, typically 40 shots or fewer. In fact, the GBB magazines are typically internally larger in gas capacity than in volume provided for the BBs/pellets themselves. Lower capacity means that the total number of shots fired during a match, or between reloadings, creates a much higher risk of being ambushed without an opportunity to defend oneself, as well as requiring greater efficiency in per-shot accuracy and effort.
Gas blowback guns also have a much more expensive operating cost. Compressed air/CO2 magazines are expensive, the valving is more complicated and fragile, gas-costs are significantly higher than simply re-loading pellets or simply buying AEG magazines, which are fully mechanical. By contrast, AEG guns provide the space for the propulsion-firing source in the gun itself, rather than in the magazines, so the firing mechanism is contained as part of the more durable part of the assembly. AEGs thereby provide better magazine-to-magazine consistency. GBB guns' performance is limited to the health and condition of each magazine, whereas AEG guns are consistent across all magazines, to whatever degree that the firing mechanism of the gun is reliable.
To minimize costs, GBB guns can be converted to cheaper High Pressure Air (HPA). HPA firing preserves much of the operating satisfaction and GBB firing-behavior, but these generally require routing air/reservoir/compressor gas through a line in a modified GBB magazine, thereby still imposing the capacity limitations of the GBB magazine. Also, as each installation is individually performed for each magazine, inconsistency in quality of assembly may result in inconsistency in gun performance, as well as in magazine-to-magazine reloading and sequentially swapping magazines during use.
There are also several steps required to swap magazines in a GBB gun using HPA-tapped magazines, including: removal of a first magazine, disconnecting the first magazine from the HPA source, connecting a second magazine to the HPA source, and then engaging the second magazine into the gun. These HPA-conversion mechanisms must pass gas into the magazine in the vicinity of where/how the gas reservoirs were arranged within the magazine, and are thereby are compromised in terms of ergonomics, typically requiring that the connection, and pressure line extend downward, from the bottom of the magazine. Geometrically, this means that the overall height of the weapon is significantly larger, particularly in the case of using a GBB magazine with relatively large pellet capacity.
For HPA-magazines which extend the pressure line a significant distance away from the weapon, there are increased odds of it being snagged on clothing or legs during a match, particularly in the case of where the reservoir must be carried in a backpack or other body type of harness, and particularly while running or crouching. This increased height also makes the gun difficult to hold upright and level when laying prone, or close to a surface, such as when hiding from a distant opponent.
Without a need to provide gas reservoirs internally, AEG gun magazines with similar capacity to any particular HPA-converted GBB magazine would have far less downward-extension of the pressure line. However, AEG magazines are not easily adaptable to gas/HPA this way, because both the guns and the magazines lack a direct way to pass gas or air from the magazine into the gun's firing chamber. The firing pressure in an AEG is provided by mechanisms inside the gun. Still, conversion of an AEG to HPA is desirable to those who would like the larger capacity per magazine (or smaller magazine size or form factor, for any particular desired capacity) because the conversion to HPA would allow the AEG to provide a Pellet gun with the bullet-gun-like firing feel of a GBB (or HPA-converted GBB).
To convert an AEG to HPA firing, the gun itself must be tapped, because the shape of a replica rifle is already designed to be held in a particular way with both arms and shoulder and line of sight. Inevitably, the typical installation method for tapping an AEG gun is to tap the underside of the gun, near the handle. This generally does not extend as far downward from the gun as a HPA-converted magazine, but this places a pressure line near the hands, and is closer to the body. It can even more easily be snagged while moving or can compromise posture or adjusting grip, compared to a GBB gun with tapped magazines.
In addition to tapping the gun itself, HPA conversion typically requires replacement of the AEG internal mechanism with an HPA-firing mechanism. This means that the AEG gun can only be operated with an HPA source after the conversion, so there is no availability to remove a pressure line or reservoir, and immediately go back to AEG operation.
Also, it is typical for pellet gun enthusiasts to own more than one gun, and often of completely different style. This means that even if the guns of a single owner are both of the same firing mechanism, the magazines cannot be swapped between the two, rendering duplicate sets of magazines, at double the ownership cost. There is no opportunity to simply use a single cache of magazines that allows all of a user's magazines available to be used with either gun or any other gun.
Therefore, there are several unresolved and persistent needs in the art:
There is a persistent need in the art to provide a solution which allows HPA firing of a pellet gun with rapid swapping and reloading of magazines, provides large capacity and cheaper equipment costs, with bullet-like firing feel and feedback, but with consistent performance, provides a minimal form factor to better facilitate moving and crouching and firing from a low position, and which allows as many magazines as possible to be used, independently of the magazine being originally intended for any particular gun, and which can be used on many different guns, so that the owner does not have to own an apparatus for each gun, and which maintains the ability of the gun to fire as originally designed, with its original magazines and otherwise originally-compatible magazines.